The mojarras are a family, Gerreidae, of fish in the order Perciformes. The family includes about 53 species found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions. They mostly inhabit coastal salt and brackish waters, although some occur in fresh water.
| Mojarra | |
|---|---|
| |
| Gerres equulus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Gerreidae Bleeker, 1859[1] |
| Genera | |
|
See text. | |
Mojarras are a common prey and bait fish in many parts of the world, including the South American coast and Caribbean islands as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast of North America.[2] These species tend to be difficult to identify in the field and often require microscopic examination. Most species exhibit a schooling behavior and tend to exploit the shallow water refugia associated with coastal areas presumably to avoid large-bodied predators, such as the lemon shark.[3]
Mojarra is also commonly used in Latin American countries as a name for various species of the cichlid family, including tilapia.
Genera
editThe ten genera currently assigned to this family are:[4][5]
- †Aspesiperca Bannikov 2008 (only known from fossil remains)
- †Gerreidarum (only known from fossilized otolith remains)
- Deckertichthys Vergara-Solana, 2014[5]
- Diapterus Ranzani, 1842
- Eucinostomus Baird & Girard, 1855
- Eugerres Jordan & Evermann, 1927
- Gerres Quoy & Gaimard, 1824
- Parequula Steindachner, 1879
- Pentaprion Bleeker, 1850
- Ulaema Jordan & Evermann 1895
Timeline
edit
See also
editReferences
edit- Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
- ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
- ^ Northeast Gulf Science Vol. 5 No. 1 1981
- ^ Bright, Michael (2000). The private life of sharks : the truth behind the myth. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-2875-7.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Gerreidae". FishBase. February 2014 version.
- ^ a b Vergara-Solana, F.J., García-Rodriguez, F.J., Tavera, J.J., De Luna, E. & De La Cruz-Agüero, J. (2014): Molecular and morphometric systematics of Diapterus (Perciformes, Gerreidae). Zoologica Scripta, 43 (4): 338–350.